pitchwdani

There’s a difference between supporting your athlete and protecting them from every hard truth.

And I think sometimes, without even realizing it, parents blur that line.

Your daughter has a bad outing and immediately there’s a reason.

The umpire was bad.
The defense didn’t help.
She was tired.
The catcher wasn’t on the same page.
The coach didn’t use her right.

And maybe some of those things are true.

But sometimes… she just didn’t have it that day.

Sometimes she didn’t execute.
Sometimes her body language was poor.
Sometimes she wasn’t prepared.
Sometimes she needs to hear, “That wasn’t good enough.”

That does not make her a bad athlete.

That makes her human.

And learning how to sit with that, own it, and come back better is part of becoming a great competitor.

As a pitching coach, I can teach mechanics. I can teach movement, command, velocity, spin, routines, adjustments.

But if an athlete shuts down every time she hears something she doesn’t like, development gets really hard.

And if every correction I give gets undone in the car ride home with, “Don’t listen to that, you were fine,” we are fighting two different battles.

Your kid does not need you to convince her she was amazing every single time.

Sometimes she just needs you to love her enough to say:

“Yeah, that wasn’t your best. What did you learn from it?”

Because one day, softball will end.

And the ability to hear hard things, take accountability, adjust, and keep going will matter way more than any inning she ever pitched.

Let them be coached.
Let them fail.
Let them be uncomfortable.

And then be there when they get back up.

This post probably should’ve gone up sooner 😂 but honestly, a lot of you will be right back in this position come October/December when teams start shifting again.

Maybe you jumped at the first offer because you were scared of being left without a team. Maybe you chose the biggest name. Maybe you’re still trying to figure out what the right fit actually looks like.

And I’m just going to say it — travel softball has changed A LOT.

It’s funny because now it feels like every other team has Premier, National, Select, Elite, Gold attached to the name.

But what does that actually mean if the people running the team aren’t DEVELOPING your kid?

Travel softball has become so watered down when it comes to actual coaching and teaching. There are a lot of talented kids playing a ton of games… but not necessarily learning the game, developing their skills, or understanding why they’re doing what they’re doing.

And parents — I don’t expect you to automatically know all of this. If you didn’t grow up playing at a high level or haven’t been around this world for years, how would you know what questions you’re supposed to ask?

That’s part of why I want to talk about it more.

I spent YEARS in travel softball. I went through recruiting. I played Division I softball. And now I’m on the other side coaching, developing athletes, talking to families, and watching girls navigate travel ball completely differently than I did.

And the more I see, the more I realize how important it is for parents to EDUCATE themselves before choosing an environment for their kid.

Especially my pitchers.

Ask questions. Watch practices.

A big organization name does not automatically mean great coaching! A “Select or Premier” team does not automatically mean your kid is going to develop. And being on the highest level team you can find isn’t always better if your athlete is going to get lost in the shuffle.

When you choose the people, you’re also choosing the environment.